Critically acclaimed drama arrives in local theaters Sept. 1

Hollywood actor John Cho won’t forget his time spent in Columbus, the Indiana city known for diesel engines and avant-garde buildings.

“Going to Columbus is such an interesting peek into the American character, which sounds grandiose but I do mean it,” Cho said. “You go through cornfields and then you go past the Home Depot and the Walmart. Then you cross a bridge and you’re in this small hamlet where you see this distinctly American pride in who we are.”

Architecture is a primary source of pride. It's why Cho, co-star of the "Harold & Kumar" movies and Lt. Sulu in recent "Star Trek" blockbusters, came to town last summer to make the independent film "Columbus."

Once described as "Athens of the prairie" by Lady Bird Johnson, Columbus is a community of 46,000 residents where buildings designed by Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Harry Weese and Kevin Roche are found.

The Bartholomew County seat doesn't rank among the top 10 biggest cities in Indiana, but Columbus is listed at No. 6 in the United States for architectural quality and innovation. Only Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston topped Columbus in a 1991 survey of American Institute of Architects members.

The true story behind the intimate drama of "Columbus" begins with industrialist-philanthropist J. Irwin Miller, the top executive at Fortune 500 engine maker Cummins from 1951 to 1977.

In 1957, the Miller-led Cummins Foundation began paying design fees for public buildings, bridges and green spaces in Columbus. City leaders had their pick of cutting-edge architects suggested by the foundation.

More than 50 projects materialized because of the foundation's involvement. Non-public companies and churches warmed to the idea and independently worked with A-list architects.

The community's reputation caught the attention of Kogonada, a single-named filmmaker who lives in Nashville, Tenn.

Before writing the "Columbus" screenplay that will introduce the city and its architecture to a new audience, Kogonada and his family visited Columbus as tourists.

“It didn’t take long,” he said during a phone interview. “It was by lunchtime that I turned to my wife and said, ‘I really want to make a film here.’”

"Columbus" is the first feature-length film directed by Kogonada, who has made acclaimed video essays for clients such as the Criterion Collection and British Film Institute.

The South Korean immigrant said the four glass walls of Irwin Union Bank, now Irwin Conference Center, and the futuristic spire of North Christian Church helped him tackle big questions about the importance of aesthetics.

“I’ve always been interested in Modernism, and then on a larger scale what it means to be modern,” Kogonada said. “That had been percolating in my mind. So there was a context for me to immediately respond to this town, which felt like the embodiment of something that I had been thinking about: ‘Does art matter? Does architecture matter? Does cinema matter?’”

Casey, short for Cassandra and portrayed by Haley Lu Richardson, is a hometown high school grad who loves the buildings. Design inspires Casey, but her life appears stalled by her mother's drug problems.

Jin, portrayed by Cho, makes an unplanned trip to Columbus to attend to his estranged father, an architecture expert who has fallen ill before giving a lecture there.

“This film could have an amazing impact on Columbus,” said Karen Niverson, executive director of the Columbus Area Visitors Center. “It could tell our story in a way no one else can.”

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John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson star in "Columbus," a story based on parents, their young-adult children and the world-class architecture of Columbus, Ind. The movie arrives in theaters on Aug. 4.
Provided by Superlative Films and Depth of Field

Niverson, who attended the Sundance screening of "Columbus," said architecture is the movie's "hero."

“To see our city on the big screen and shot with such an artistic eye is fabulous,” she said.

Similar to the film's Casey character, Ben Wever grew up in Columbus with an affection for local architecture.

Wever was much closer to the source, however, because his grandmother worked for J. Irwin Miller for more than half of a century. As a pre-teen, he recalls seeing "purple, orange and bright blue" doors at the downtown headquarters of Irwin Management.

"I thought, 'This is how you could live,'" said Wever, who started working as a groundskeeper at Miller House and Garden in the mid-1990s.

Today, he's site manager of Miller House and Garden, a 1957 collaboration between Saarinen, interior designer Alexander Girard and landscape architect Dan Kiley.

When asked about architecture's impact on present-day Columbus, Wever said, "Up until recently, I would say it probably was losing some momentum."

The film may deliver an uptick in interest, but an even bigger boost could come from Exhibit Columbus — a design biennial that debuts Aug. 26. With plans to present 18 outdoor installations in the context of popular buildings, Exhibit Columbus is organized by nonprofit Landmark Columbus and its director, former Indianapolis Museum of Art conservator Richard McCoy.

"(Exhibit Columbus) has really helped to breathe some fresh air into Columbus and get more people interested and back to see the place like they were coming in the early '70s," Wever said.

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Larry Ruble, a tour guide for the Columbus Area Visitors Center, is seen outside First Christian Church.(Photo: David Lindquist / IndyStar)

Exhibit Columbus, on display through Nov. 26, will feature five installations on Fifth Street, nicknamed "Avenue of the Architects" for its concentration of buildings designed by Pei, Weese, Roche, Saarinen and his father, Eliel Saarinen.

Larry Ruble, a tour guide for the Columbus Area Visitors Center, served as a judge for designs submitted for Exhibit Columbus consideration.

He said the city's prime season for tourism stretches from April to October.

“Someone said on a tour the other day, ‘Wow, there must be a lot of money in Columbus to have this kind of stuff,’” Ruble said. “I stopped, took a breath and said, ‘You know, I think there’s a lot more pride than there is money.’ This was a blue-collar town when all this was happening.”

Columbus benefited from great leaders who could envision the future, Ruble said.

Director Kogonada, left, chats with Haley Lu Richardson at Miller House on the set of the film "Columbus."(Photo: Provided by Superlative Films / Depth of Field)

How that vision played out serves as a subtext for the "Columbus" film.

In off-screen reality, the bank is sandwiched between a Kohl's and a car wash.

“I found Columbus to be a place filled with contradictions, as America is,” Cho said. “You could see harsh reality and then the brilliance of hope.”

Kogonada said his story's inclusion of a character struggling with addiction makes "Columbus" something more than a chamber of commerce highlight reel.

"I didn’t see Columbus as just, ‘Oh, it’s beautiful and it’s rosy,’" Kogonada said. "I felt melancholy and possibility. It is that real tension where I see in Columbus this desire and almost belief that architecture and these kinds of thoughtful decisions about form matter."

Early advocates of Modernism promoted their ideas as solutions to the world's problems, Kogonada said.

"We all realize the limitations of that," he said. "It’s not deterministic in a way that’s it’s inevitable people will people will respond it. It isn’t a promise fully fulfilled. For me, it makes Columbus all the more intriguing and lovelier."